Confusing Common Practices with Best Practices Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell I work quite a bit with helping senior management teams improve the performance of their organisations and one of the most common issues I come across is the confusion between "common practices" and "... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
When Fixing What's Broken Doesn't Work Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell Don't Improve Your Legacy Business System, Shed It! For over 30 years now I have been engaged by organisations in the service and knowledge-work sectors to help them improve their performance. In almo... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
Joined-Up Thinking and the "Germ Theory of Management" Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell If I hear another commentator, while bemoaning the ills of our country (any country but in my case Ireland), say that "what we need is some joined-up thinking" and say it as if it's some "as-yet-to-be... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
Today's Problems Come From Yesterdays Solutions. Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell The above quote from Peter Senge's great book "The Fifth Discipline" is one of those profound pieces of wisdom that, even when said out loud,, doesn't always capture the depth of the insight. Edward D... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
What is Lean Enterprise Excellence & Operational Excellence Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell Our CEO Alex McDonnell explains what Lean Enterprise Excellence & Operational Excellence is: quality management improvement project industry experience depth understanding black belt shingo model... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
Why "Cause" beats "Urgency" every time. Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell I admire John P Kotter, I have been an avid reader of his books and an evangelist for his message about leading change. In his book "Urgency" Kotter says he believes that "the single biggest error peo... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
Transforming Lean: Is Leans Roots in Japanese Religion and Culture holding it back? Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell Christian Wittrock from Aarhus University in Denmark wrote an interesting paper* in 2015 tracing Leans roots in Japanese religion and culture. The abstract from his paper states: "James Womack, Daniel... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
Service Sectors Biggest Problem Solved: How Long is a Piece of String? Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell Anybody familiar with fractals will know that the answer to the question is "infinite". Fortunately most teams in service and knowledge work organisations don't need to calculate the length of your co... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
Easiest Way To Improve Performance? Step 1: Stop Making Things Worse! Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell I work with service and knowledge work organisations and it's often quite surprising to them how much they can improve performance by just stopping making things worse. Of course, its not that people ... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
"Whistling Past The Graveyard" of Bad Performance Measures. Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell In Ireland, where I come from, we have a tradition of folklore, mystery, tall tales, "sayings" and proverbs that cover every possible life situation, one of which is "whistling past the graveyard". Ac... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
Ryanair: When Complex Adaptive Systems bite back! Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell Ryanair is Europe's largest airline and is probably the first modern day organisation to build a successful business model based on despising its customers, its people and its suppliers. It could do t... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
Ryanair: A Lesson for Leaders, Managers, Unions and Society Expertivity Technologies , Alex McDonnell There's been a lot of feedback on my earlier post on Ryanair supporting the post but also pointing out the great things that Ryanair has achieved for society such as low fares, the boom and ease in tr... Dec 26, 2020 Blog
